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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

I was lucky enough to win a contest from Brian at Play at the Plate this month, and due to a mix-up, I got a much better package than originally expected. The contest I won was based on those $5 cello-packs that contain a few hall of famers, but mostly commons from the junk wax era, but what I got was a jumbo pack of 2007 Upper Deck and a jumbo packs of Topps 2010 Update. While the Upper Deck pack gave me nothing more than a Scott Kazmir to add to my PC, the Topps Update pack was FANTASTIC!

It was my first pack of update so far, but it got me off to a good start. It got me my first Strasburg (who I'm not convinced won't be this generation's Brien Taylor) as well as my first Kerry Wood in a Yankees uniform, which is almost as short-lived as Lance Berkman in a Yankees uniform. It also got me my second SP of a baseball legend in Reggie Jackson (the first being Brooks Robinson).

Hey, for anyone who is a fan of the Baltimore Orioles, or loud-mouthed baseball managers, the Great Orioles Autograph Project is having a giveaway for an autographed Earl Weaver card. One of my favorite things about baseball, apart from bench-clearing brawls, is manager tantrums, and Weaver was in a league of his own when it came to this. Here is one of many he had: (Warning, STRONG language)

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Well, I thought I had the perfect name for my blog. Simple. Catchy. Somewhat rhyme-y. Unfortunately, there was already a blogger on wordpress who shared the same name. I figured, "Who cares?" I'll just have to be better than he is. I soon found out that the other "Cardboard Overload" is a blog run by Nick Jacoby. Yes, the same Nick Jacoby who cracked the Allen & Ginter code and has his own card in the 2010 set. I figured since he has done something in the hobby that, let's face it, I will never do, I'll step aside. So here it is. Same blog, different name.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Well, here it is, yet another post. I never get to put anything on line as often, but my daughter and wife are both taking naps, so this is about the only time I get on this blog.

I'm not the biggest basketball fan, but like with football, I buy the occasional product just to keep my collection up to date. I don't like to spend a whole lot of money, though, which is why I grabbed myself a $5 rack pack of Donruss. $5 for 40 cards is a fantastic deal, especially with the look of the set. They really got for a vintage feel to the cards, without making it identical. The inspiration was taken from the 1984 baseball set and even has the same backing, not only in the design, but also in the rougher feel of the cardboard. I'm not sure if it was intentional, but all of the photography looks as though it came from 1984 with the color tones and the overall dull look to it.

I found base cards of Kevin Durant, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony, as well as a checklist card with Kobe Bryant's face on it. There was also, much to my surprise, a Rated Rookie card of John Wall, who I believe is this year's hot newcomer. Production Line seems to be the main insert card in this set, with a few parallels, including the Marcus Camby I pulled (747/999). While I RARELY ever pull any kind of "hits' from retail unless it's guaranteed in a blaster, I managed to get my hands on a Jason Kidd jersey. Definitely worth my Five bucks. Just be careful with the rack packs, A lot of these cards came with dinged corners, including the Wall and Durant cards.

For anyone interested in some GREAT looking basketball cards, head over to Hoopography. He is giving away a few really cool cards from Panini's Timeless Treasures, including a jersey card, an auto card and an auto jersey card. The contest is over on Wednesday, so give him a look.

One thing I have discovered as a card collector is how difficult it can be to find someone with that shared interest. I am also a HUGE professional wrestling fan, which hasn't really been socially cool since the late '90s. However, finding other WWE card collectors? An even more difficult task. But still, even though I may never strike up any trades for wrestling products, they can still be cool to have, especially with sets such as WWE Platinum.

I have purchased a few blasters of this year's Topps set, which like football, is modelled the same as baseball, but with Platinum, they reall put some thought into this. The overall design is fantastic. They have kind of a spotlight on the wrestlers, with makes the action stand out just a little more, and unlike some other Topps products (I'm looking at you, Chrome), there's no kind of warping to be seen anywhere.

Each pack comes with a "Rainbow" card, which is similar to a refractor from the Chrome set and produced on a thicker card stock. I suppose this is a way to detract pack searchers from pulling all of the relics out of a box. My blaster provided me with a Triple H, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. There was also a green parallel (388/499) of Vladimir Kozlov. I also found two seperate insert sets. The first is called Platinum Performance, which features stand-out moments from WWE's history. One, Snuka's leap off a 15-foot steel cage at MSG in 1983 was a moment so iconic, that many wrestlers (including Mick Foley) were inspired to become wrestlers. The other is a bit more questionable. DH Smith and Tyson Kidd winning the tag titles? The description notes that it was the first time a member of the Hart family held a title since the British Bulldog held the Hardcore Championship in 2000, ut I still think it's a bit of a stretch.

The other insert set revolves around two-sided cards and looks at wrestlers of the present and compares them to wrestlers of the past. My blaster gave me three: John Cena/Dusty Rhodes, Rey Mysterio/Ricky Steamboat and a gold version of Kane/Bam Bam Bigelow (10/50). What they tried to do with these is find one common attribute with the two wrestlers. For example, with Cena/Rhodes it was fan popularity, with Mysterio/Steamboat it was smaller guys who could compete with the main-eventers, and with Kane/Bigelow it was being intimidating monsters.

Now while my box yielded me zero cards of The Miz, John Morrison, or CM Punk, I was incredibly happy with what I opened. These are the best-looking WWE cards I have ever seen and well worth the money.

Hey everyone, for those interested in a FANTASTIC contest, go over to All About Cards. There are a TON of unopened boxes to give away and there are a few ways to win. I think when all is said and done, three people will be going home with cash and prizes. (well, prizes, really, cards, no cash.) Plenty of ways to win, so go check them out.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Well, it was a trade over two months in the making (actually, I just sent me end of the deal out today), but it was definitely worth the wait. I struck up a deal with Mike who writes at BA Benny's Baseball Card Buffet for a few 2010 Topps Baseball inserts along with an Eli Manning and Drew Brees from my Classics box break. I sent him some really cool cards and I absolutely got what I wanted in return, including a card that has some backstory with me, but means nothing to most baseball fans out there.

There were plenty of cool Cubs cards, including two Chrome Sorianos. What makes all of these cards below really cool is that as many as I already have, these are all new to me.

Along with a few Texans cards, I also got a couple of Ryne Sandbergs, including one of my targets, a 2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces card. For one, it's a great looking card and two, I love recent issues of retired players. It allows us to keep updating our player collections, plus they have the high-quality modern look of today's cards. He also included three 1952 reprints from the 2002 Topps set for my Brooklyn Dodgers collection. My dad, upon seeing the Jackie Robinson, said "Hey, I have that card. Maybe you'll get it next Christmas." <Fingers crossed>

The big hits of the trade were game-used bats of Mark Grudzielanek and Nic Jackson, as well as a Zach Hamill jersey card he won in a contest a few months ago, but the big pull of the trade for me was the auto of Jordan Tata. This is a card that would be a waste of a hit for most people out there, but it's a card I've wanted from Mike since I saw it on his blog last year.

In college, I majored in journalism at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, TX and did my internship at the local newspaper, the Huntsville Item. One of my duties was covering the SHSU baseball team. In addition to us beating college baseball powerhouse Rice University and getting our butts handed to us by future Astros all-star Hunter Pence, I not only interviewed Tata after numerous games he pitched, but also wrote the local story on him when he got drafted. He may not have done too much in the bigs, but he did make it and it's always cool to have such a card of someone you've had some personal interaction with before they made it.

Finally, if anyone has the time, Sam at The Daily Dimwit is running an awesome contest for a box of Diamond Cuts Baseball from Tri City Sports. Tri City is an up-and-coming brand which features cut signatures of baseball legends, present-day all stars and even some Hollywood actors and actresses. The company is a brand-new sponsor of Sam's blog, so he would really appreciate any help to let Tri City know that their investment in him is a worthwhile one.

Friday, January 7, 2011

I doesn't SEEM like I've been away from my blog too long, but when I look at my page and see Nov. 23 as my last post...time sure has flown by. I've had quite the busy December, though. I work retail, managing a men's clothing store, so December means Christmas shoppers, which means long hours, very few days off, and even fewer instances where I had the energy and will power to sit in front of my computer to write (aka do more work). Unfortunately, it also meant that I was INCREDIBLY lazy in getting my trades out. There's nothing like receiving your end of the trade package in the mail when you haven't even put your package together. If you are expecting something from me, I WILL get it out.

Anyway, on to the good part.

My parents were visiting for Christmas (another reason for the infrequent posts) to celebrate the holiday and help watch our daughter after my wife had thyroid surgery (yet another). Since the beginning of December, my dad had been building up the anticipation of how much I was going to love my gift and he couldn't wait until I opened it. The first package I opened was a large box containing hundreds of Chicago Cubs cards and about 15 or so random packs from the junk wax era. Nothing too special there, apart from an '88 Donruss Glavine rookie and a '91 Fleer Roger Clemens insert. (I always loved the Pro Vision series for some reason) There were also a few smaller pesents which contained things like a Joe Carter '84 Donruss rookie and the '83 Topps Sandberg. That particular card for me, as a 13-year-old Cubs fan, was the holy grail of card collecting. That one card I always wanted, but could never afford, or at least convince my parents to let me spend that much money on a card. I now own 2.

The big one came at the end. It was the one marked OPEN LAST!!! I knew I had something spectacular waiting for me, but I did not quite expect what I found. There were 9 original Ernie Bank Cards, including a 1955 Bowman graded and a 1955 Topps. What really made it special was that a majority of these, including the '55 Topps came from his personal collection. It really meant a lot that he was willing to give those up to me. Now not only do I have a much older answer the the "What is the oldest card in your collection?" question, but it is QUITE the card to have.